Westford taking aim at weapons debate

By Sarah Favot, sfavot@lowellsun.com

Updated:
02/19/2013 07:04:30 AM EST

WESTFORD -- After more than 100 people were turned away from Town Hall last week after the building swelled beyond its capacity, that group and perhaps many more, will re-convene at the Stony Brook Middle School Wednesday to speak about the town's proposed ban on "dangerous and unusual weapons."

As debate on Capitol Hill and Beacon Hill rage regarding stricter state and national gun control, this community of about 22,000 residents is having its own discussion over whether to restrict certain types of firearms within town lines, including assault weapons, large-capacity weapons, machine guns and large-capacity feeding devices.

The state Attorney General's Office said it is not aware of another community in Massachusetts adopting such a ban.

The ban was proposed by Selectman Robert Jefferies days after the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. The Board of Selectmen then adopted a goal for the year to work with the police chief to propose tighter gun control.

On Wednesday, the board will be voting whether to reopen the Annual Town Meeting warrant to remove a firearms bylaw amendment drafted by selectmen or to keep it on the warrant.

At previous selectmen meetings, Chairman Kelly Ross and Selectman Andrea Peraner-Sweet had said they would like the discussion about gun control to take place on Town Meeting floor.

Selectman Jim Sullivan said he thought the process was rushed and had suggested the possibility of putting together a committee to work on the bylaw before putting it to a Town Meeting vote.

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Peraner-Sweet said she was reluctant to vote to remove an article from the warrant that Jefferies proposed when he was absent from the meeting in late January.

In her statements at a selectmen meeting and on her Facebook page, Selectman Valerie Wormell said she doesn't support the process of the bylaw amendment.

The selectmen will have several other decisions to make Wednesday night: whether to reopen the warrant to include citizens' petitions regarding the firearms bylaw amendment filed after the deadline and to reopen the warrant to add other items like a request from Nashoba Valley Technical High School and to add capital items.

Ross said Monday night he couldn't recall an instance where the warrant has been reopened to add a citizen's petition, but remembers many times the board has declined to open the warrant for citizens' petitions.

"The fear is if you open it for a citizen's petition, then there will be a flood of citizen's petitions coming in," he said.

For consistency and fairness, the selectmen have not opted to reopen the warrant for petitions he said, to give town staff enough time to prepare for Town Meeting and to give time for voters to educate themselves about the warrant.

In the past, the board has re-opened the warrant for other requests.

For example, in 2011, the warrant was reopened at the request of Westford Academy Principal James Antonelli to add an article regarding the renaming of the school's athletic field and for a request from Nashoba Tech.

"Sometimes there is some urgent matter of town business comes up," Ross said.

The deadline for filing citizens' petitions was Jan. 22, the date the selectmen voted to close the warrant.

Since then, two petitions have come in.

One from Denali Delmar, which is the exact wording of the firearms- bylaw amendment proposed by selectmen.

"I was very pleased that the selectmen voted to put Article 30 (firearms bylaw amendment) on the warrant," Delmar said Monday night. "When I heard there was a possibility they might remove it from the warrant, I felt it's very important for citizens of our country to have a discussion about gun control. And there is no place better to do that than in New England where we have Town Meeting."

If the citizen's petition was added to the warrant, it would ensure gun control was discussed on Town Meeting floor, even if the selectmen removed the bylaw amendment from the warrant.

Delmar said she thinks people can own recreational guns without having "such dangerously powerful weapons."

The other petition was filed by Brett Fleckner, a member of the Stony Brook Fish and Game Association.

Fleckner's petition calls for a committee to be formed if any action is taken to amend the town's bylaws that "restrict a person's rights under the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution."

Any bylaw amendment must be vetted by the state Attorney General's Office to ensure compliance with state laws and the Constitution.

Fleckner said he feels discussion about the bylaw change at selectmen's meetings isn't enough community input.

The composition of his proposed committee would include a selectman, two members of a sportsmen club, a member of a domestic-violence services organization, the police chief and the superintendent of schools.

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